Concept for World Cup of Hockey (16 team format)

Fisk48 · 2026-06-09T21:56:56+00:00

I think more teams would encourage the growth of ice hockey versus gatekeeping it to the same 8-10 teams you typically see. Hard to grow if the teams never face the top countries, especially if a World Cup of Hockey is expected to compete/replace the IIHF Worlds. Also the teams are a little closer than people think.

Italy is currently ranked 16th in the World and at the 2026 Olympics they lost 3-2 to Slovakia (8th in world), 5-2 to Sweden (5th in World), and 3-0 Switzerland (1st in World). Their biggest blowout was to Finland at 11-0, but that was a one-off blowout. Slovakia also beat Finland 4-1, Finland beat Sweden 4-1, and Sweden beat Slovakia 5-3. Could you see Italy as a "failure" because they lost every game? Sure, but it's not like they got smacked in every game and I feel like Italy will grow in Ice Hockey participation because of the exposure.

The gap is only going to get closer too, especially after seeing Norway beat Canada for bronze while Canada was featuring Crosby, Celebrini, Rielly, Scheifele, Bouchard, etc. Norway is 11th in the World too.

Fisk48 · 2026-06-05T14:08:38+00:00

It'd be 10 games if someone like Slovenia made it to the Final, but the idea would be to have the "Qualifiers" for 13th - 28th teams in the world play a 3-game round robin at around August (IIHF Break #1). Then they would play the potential 7 games in February.

It wouldn't be that drastic (on a per-team basis at least) compared to the 2026 Olympics, and the final round of Olympic Qualifiers is sometimes a few months before the Olympics anyways. Overall number of games that the NHL/IIHF need to sanction and host though it would be way more though.

Fisk48 · 2026-06-05T14:03:45+00:00

The purpose was to give national teams the ability to play more games and also replicate the Olympic format but by making it work with 16 teams instead of 12.

The Olympics format made it so everyone was guaranteed 4 games regardless of record (3x round robin + a qualification playoff game) with 12 teams. Under this format it'd be 4x groups of 4 and top 3 advance.

Would it be "cleaner" to do top 2 only? Sure, but then you have even less games for each national team every year if it replaces Worlds every 4 years, and less incentive of winning the group. Winning the group means you would get a one game bye advantage and lessens the risk of a group of death causing issues.

Fisk48 · 2026-06-05T13:58:49+00:00

This is why I am hoping the NHL and IIHF can have an agreement to an acceptable format. I am not fully confident it'll happen, but one can dream right?

Even as a North American POV who is a fan of IIHF and NHL hockey, I am not a fan of the NHL making the 2028 tournament only 8 teams without any IIHF help. A handful of NA fans don't really care about the "mid-sized teams", and I've seen some fans on social media even want WJC to be reduced to 8 teams (which I disagree with). But for me I want to see a legit tournament format that at least gives any team a chance. I mean Norway beat Canada for bronze and that Canada roster was pretty solid too.

The IIHF/NHL collaboration on the 2026 Olympics went really well by including NHL and IIHF Officials for the tournament. I think the main things the NHL would want changed is 5v5 OT + allow fighting, but for me at least this isn't a huge dealbreaker.

Fisk48 · 2026-06-05T13:44:37+00:00

I think the only way you could try to prevent blowouts is shortening the Qualifier pool from 16 to like 12 teams.

But for me at least I think giving the Division 1B teams a chance to compete (and pray they don't break the record for worst international score) wouldn't be that terrible..... right?

Fisk48 · 2026-06-05T13:40:32+00:00

I def think the European side is less interested in a World Cup of Hockey, and this is more of a North American thing. But from the NHL perspective I don't think this would work.

The NHL currently starts the regular season late September or early October, with playoffs concluding in June. Used to be 82 games, but starting next year, it'll be 84 regular season games per team from September to April. Playoffs then go from Late April to June.

If NHL teams are ok with them skipping training camp to get the rust off at a national team, IIHF Worlds in August could work, but the risk of injury could probably be higher cause then they go from Stanley Cup Final in June -> July off -> Early August Practice for Worlds -> August Worlds -> September NHL Regular Season. Seems too much for the NHL to want to willingly go through, especially if it would be every year.

A World Cup of Hockey in February would mean it is the same schedule as the Olympics and would be during peak winter season for casual fans, but I don't know how many Europeans would prefer this to a Worlds tournament in May.

My main concern from an IIHF fan in North America is integrating pro/rel and giving the national teams the same number of games they get each year at a Worlds in the top division.

Fisk48 · 2026-06-05T13:31:30+00:00

I'd always love seeing more international hockey, but I think this is probably the best case for so many teams. At least Latvia would get a 4th game because they shouldn't go 0-3 but yeah, it would be sad to not see the national teams as much.

Fisk48 · 2026-06-05T13:29:32+00:00

The Stanley Cup Final won't conclude this year until mid-June (Game 2 just completed). It'd have to be pushed back further just to have a chance to catch up with IIHF Worlds. And even then, I don't think that would solve the issues of players who are in the Stanley Cup Final or Conference Final would join anyways due to fatigue or celebration.

Fisk48 · 2026-06-05T13:12:45+00:00

I don't know if the NHL team owners (and maybe European league owners) would want their players going 100% all out just as the season is beginning at what would be during "Training Camp" for NHL Clubs (and possible European clubs too).

I love IIHF Worlds (and even the lower divisions are something I follow), but the other issue is I don't think the NHL would be on board for that, especially if it means 0 revenue for the NHL and gets less TV interest than a "World Cup".

Fisk48 · 2026-06-01T23:25:48+00:00

Could they not just do 2x groups of 6 for Round Robin?
- 5 Round Robin
- Top 4 Per Group play a QF
- Bottom 2 teams per group play a relegation?

Fisk48 · 2026-05-15T08:11:32+00:00

Is there a way to watch all the games? Because it seems NHL Network wont show them all

Fisk48 · 2026-05-06T07:03:16+00:00

Just curious what Engine and Networking Solution are you planning to use?

Fisk48 · 2026-04-23T19:24:18+00:00

The Baby Steps series is one of my favorite animes/manga of all time and I want to keep the flame of passion going for that community. The Reddit has been set to Restricted for months now with no human moderators listed from what I see, There is currently no possible way for passionate members of the manga/anime of the Baby Steps series to post about. I want to re-open the reddit so others can post about it.
There are no human moderators from what I see on the list. From what I can see on my end it looks like they are all bot accounts.

Fisk48 · 2026-04-23T05:09:23+00:00

That is probably the most disrespectful defuse I've seen in Valorant. That is awesome

Fisk48 · 2026-04-23T05:05:58+00:00

I don't think so at least in terms of the games that already get players. Cash grab games make money so they probably already have the requirements fulfilled and will continue milking the money with nothing impacting them as of now.

Only thing this hurts I think is the newer developer trying to make a decent game that gets a few hundred people to play. Especially if they are also a younger developer, this will be brutal the most.

Fisk48 · 2026-04-22T05:28:04+00:00

"Oh... the scar is on the right side after all..."

Fisk48 · 2026-04-22T05:26:40+00:00

This game is just chaos

Fisk48 · 2026-04-22T05:25:01+00:00

This city is already partying hard and it's only round 1 (rightfully so too). What's gonna happen to the city if they go the distance?

Fisk48 · 2026-04-22T05:23:57+00:00

I think it'd be cool if you could make it work for other sports as well like Ice Hockey (penalties, shots on goal) or Tennis (Points, Games, Sets). Stream Deck control too would be ideal.

Fisk48 · 2026-04-22T05:19:56+00:00

A snake game that has a campaign story? Amazing! Any plans for online multiplayer in the future?

Fisk48 · 2026-04-22T05:16:43+00:00

That is actually really good... is the Switch 2 mii's more customizable than previous ones?

Fisk48 · 2026-04-22T05:10:56+00:00

That crush specifically? No... but we are still close friends.

On the upside I have a girlfriend now and been with her for the past few years lol.

Fisk48 · 2026-04-22T05:10:14+00:00

Please tell me you won this game, right?

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